Iskander-E 'designed to counter Western TMDs'

Thanks for the info. 🙂
Just one more question. I read somewhere that the Iskander could be re-targeted in flight by a Beriev A-50… What are the chances of that being correct? Or has anyone else seen something like that for a missile before?

I have also seen an article where they said the -M had the same range as the -E. But aside from that one article, everywhere else says they are different – but the length, diameter, etc. seem to be the same. In which case, if the -E and -M have such similar characteristics, how could they have improved the range from the E to the M?…

SJones,

By all of the accounts I have seen, the ranges of the export and Iskander-M are different. As it was previously stated, the export needs to comply with the MTCR. In terms of your latter question, see the attached article excerpt:

Bolt From the Blue
Russian land-based precision-strike missiles
by Michal Fiszer and Jerzy Gruszczynski
Mar. 1, 2003

At the same time, it was officially announced that the Iskander-E had passed the all trials successfully and is ready for production, while the trials and updates of the full Tender system are still ongoing. Most probably, the aforementioned Russian brigade has been equipped with a hybrid of the Iskander-E’s simpler missile avionics with the Russian missile. The latter has a larger fuel chamber and a heavier warhead (allowed under INF). In the Iskander-E, the missile size and weight is the same, but some ballast is incorporated to stay within the 300-km range and 500-kg warhead limits. The 700-kg Russian submunitions warhead would carry 72 instead of 54 homing bomblets, and a penetrator is available.

How reliable this source is, I do not know. It seems like adding ballast would be too close to non-compliance with the MTCR, but then again, maybe not… Perhaps a software change additionally? – I don’t know.

Any thoughts from anyone?

I agree on the confusion with regard to the -M and Tender naming. I’ve read the M was a version being used for testing until they get/or got to the final product, the Tender – but it seems to be referred to as the -M more frequently.

I have also seen an article where they said the -M had the same range as the -E. But aside from that one article, everywhere else says they are different – but the length, diameter, etc. seem to be the same. In which case, if the -E and -M have such similar characteristics, how could they have improved the range from the E to the M?…

The JED article “Bolt from the Blue” talks about Russian SRBMs like Tochka, Tochka-U, Oka (SS-23 SPIDER) and Iskander-E/Iskander-M/Tender in detail. In that article, it stated that Iskander-M was only an interim system until Tender was completed. Now the same organization is saying that “Tender” was actually dropped as a name in favour of “Iskander-M”. Weird. Don’t know what to believe.

In there an improved version of the Iskander being developed called the Iskander-M or something with Greater range and Accuracy?
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Well AFAIK , Iskander has two versions , The Export one has a range under 300 Km obviously for MTCR and the Accuracy will be downgraded for export versions , what makes it special is the Traj and the Accuracy which seems to be capable of hitting patriot like battries.

I have also come across report which says the Russian version ( non-export ) has received stealth treatment to reduce the over all RCS

Any way here is more info from another thread

Iskander

In there an improved version of the Iskander being developed called the Iskander-M or something with Greater range and Accuracy?

I don’t think anybody’s really questioning the accuracy. I think it’s the missile’s ability to counter ATBMs that is in question. Manuevers early in flight are going to do ZERO to defeat a PAC-3. I’m guessing the idea there is to make it uncertain exactly what the target area is but where sensors and computers work as fast as they do it would be like an elephant trying to fake out a cheetah. Virtually futile. Now if the RV is stealthy that would help but manuevering is going to be of limited value as PAC-3 has already proven itself against manuevering Pershing II RVs. Maybe the lower RCS would magnify the effects of manuever who knows? Would be interesting to know exactly how effective these countermeasures would be but obviously we’ll never find out.

K some more for the Isklander-E

Iskander-E with Optic-Eelectronic correlation & Extreme conditions Guidance system

The recent local wars confirmed the effectiveness of high-precision weapons and the need for their improvement. Russia’s latest mobile missile system for land forces, the Iskander-E, employs a modern high-precision control system developed by the Central Research Institute of Automatics and Hydraulics (TsNIIAG), Russia’s leading developer of control and guidance systems for tactical and rapid strike missiles.

Overcoming easily an enemy air defense, the Iskander-E can be successfully used to neutralize both small-sized point targets and areal ones.

The Iskander-E has an array of merits, an information support system being one of them. This includes subsystems for target reconnaissance, target designation and its transmission to missile launch sites. The key element of the missile’s onboard system is optic-electronic correlation and extreme conditions guidance system, also a product of TsNIIAG. A 20 kg optic homing head fitted to the missile is ready for launch in no more than 5 minutes, the guidance error being within 20 m. Specialists of TsNIIAG have developed data processing stations (DPS) and command vehicles (CV) based on the Kamaz all-terrain truck. Those are fitted with optic fiber and radio communications systems, local computing networks using personal computers with built-in information protection devices and dedicated software.

Run by a crew of two, DPS automatically gathers intelligence coming from space and aerial vehicles, provides target designation through data transmission channels and prepares reference data for ballistic missiles fitted with optic homing heads. The CV automatically controls combat troops. Four operators at automated workstation compute combat tasks and relay them to the weapon system’s launchers. The combat task takes 10 minutes to compute, the maximum computing time being no more than 15 seconds. The new technologies of TsNIIAG have dual application and can be used for military and civilian purposes, for instance, in space exploration, rescue operations, urban utility services, manufacturing industries and medicine.

For instance, the institute has developed digital high-precision angle converters, electric monitoring drives controlled by electric pulses and medical computer-aided diagnostic units

The nose cone (below pic), hope it is 😀

Garry, can u post the pic?

Some very nice launch photos of the Spider in Russia’s Arms.

Iskander was not in service in 1996 (when dudaev died) i’m quite sure that the missile was a ss-21 spider (read on an old article of jed

Even I read it in JED , so you are probably right its the spider , but a dangerous one 😉

Iskander was not in service in 1996 (when dudaev died) i’m quite sure that the missile was a ss-21 spider (read on an old article of jed)

Are you sure on that I remember it was Iskander , isnt SS-21 quite old system to be that accurate.

Neither system is brand new. Both systems also share a warhead and potentially the same guidance system. I have heard of “live” SS-21 launches during the Chechen war, but not Iskander launches. Both have comparable accuracy when using the same guidance, and the warheads are the same. The main difference is range and platform… the SS-21 having a range of 120km and the SS-26 having a range of 280km in its export model. And of course that the SS-26 has two ready to use missiles on each launcher vehicle, whereas the SS-21 has only one.

Russian Army Creates The First battalion of Iskander Missile

he first battalion of short-range missile systems Iskander has been created in the RF Armed Forces. It will operate in one of divisions of instant readiness based in the southern Russia, said General-Colonel Vladimir Zaritsky, head of the RF rocket troops and artillery.
”Further on, under the Weaponry Program and Development Concept, we may start re-arming missile brigades in the Far East and Siberian Military District,” Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper quoted Zaritsky as saying.

According to Zaritsky, the above missile complex “is able to interact with military space systems of surveillance, unmanned flight devices, i.e. to hit targets in live mode.” “The complex may efficiently hit defense and air defense systems, aircraft facilities in the aerodromes, fire units,” Zaritsky specified. “The shooting range is from 50 km to 280 km. Each of the two missiles in the complex delivers to target a 480-kg multiple warhead.”

“The level of troops’ equipment by innovated weapon and military hardware is not very high, around 20 percent,” the general-colonel noted. “Much the same could be said about separate components, making up systems of surveillance, fire control,” he pointed out. “Unfortunately, their number is not yet in line with the scale of the tasks set before our branch of service. But we are active in that direction and it will allow to remedy the situation already in the nearest future,” Zaritsky assured.

The missile that killed Dudaev was a ss-21 spider (tochka)

Are you sure on that I remember it was Iskander , isnt SS-21 quite old system to be that accurate.

ISKANDER

It has been developed as a result of joint work of a number of research institutes, design bureaus and plants under the supervision of the KBM Engineering Design Bureau, a well-known as a developer of Tochka (SS-21), Oka (SS-23) and Tochka-U missile systems.
The Kolomna Engineering Design Bureau is the leading developer of precision-guided tactical and theater missiles for the Ground Forces.

In creative cooperation with leading research and design organizations and plants of the defense industry as well as the Defense Ministry Research Institute, the KBM Engineering Design Bureau has created a number of missile systems (division-level Tochka (SS-21) with a range of up to 70 km, army-level Oka (SS-23) with a range of up to 400 km, corps-level Tochka-U with a range of up to 120 km) that superseded the first generation missile systems of the Ground Forces (9K72 with 8K14-1 liquid-propellant missile, 9K52 with the 9M21unguided solid-propellant missile,ensuring effective engagement only if nuclear-tipped).

The particular features of the aforementioned systems are: high accuracy of fire, a short time of readiness for launch, independence of combat assets, a high degree of prelaunch preparation automation and sufficiently high effectiveness of conventional warheads.

That was evidently the reason to include the Oka missile system in the Soviet-American treaty on the elimination of their intermediate range and shorter range missiles, although its maximum guaranteed range was only 400 km.

The conclusion of the 1987 INF Treaty and the decision not to use theater nuclear weapons set a number of principally new requirements for modern missile systems:

– use of non-nuclear destruction weapons only;

– precise accuracy of fire;

– control throughout the entire flight path;

– broad range of effective warheads;

– availability of battle management automation and information support systems, including preparation of standard information for correction and terminal guidance systems;

– possibility of integration into global satellite navigation systems (GSNSs), such as GLONASS and NAVSTAR;

– ability to engage hardened targets;

– increase in the number of engaged targets per unit of time;

– ability to penetrate air and missile defenses;

– capability to engage moving targets.

To meet the above requirements, the KBM Engineering Design Bureau has created the Iskander-E missile system.

The Iskander-E missile system has embodied the best scientific, technical and design achievements in the field of theater missile systems; in terms of its design and high combat effectiveness it is an absolutely new-generation weapon which outperforms existing Scud-B, Tochka-U, Lance, ATACMS, Pluto and other missile systems.

The Iskander-E missile system is designed to engage:

– hostile fire weapons (SAM and missile batteries);

– fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft at parking areas;

– air and missile defense facilities;

– command posts and communications nodes;

– vital pinpoint and area targets;

– critical civilian facilities.

Owing to the implementation of terminal control and guidance methods, control throughout the entire flight path, a broad range of powerful warheads and integration of the onboard control system with various correction and homing systems as well as a high probability of combat mission accomplishment in heavy hostile jamming environments, type targets are engaged by one or two Iskander-E missiles, which in terms of effectiveness is equivalent to the use of a nuclear munition.

For the first time in the world a missile system with a firing range not exceeding 300 km is capable of accomplishing all combat missions using conventional warheads and having two missiles on a launcher, which substantially increases the fire power potential of missile units.

Iskander-E missile system’s features ensure:

– highly precise and effective engagement of various types of targets;

– possibility of concealed preparation, combat duty and delivery of effective missile strikes;

– automatic computation and input of a missile flying mission by the launcher devices;

– high probability of combat mission accomplishment in heavy hostile jamming environments;

– high probability of trouble-free missile operation during launch preparation and in flight;

– high tactical maneuverability due to cross-country combat vehicles mounted on all-wheel drive, chassis, and strategic mobility owing to transportability of the missile system by all types of transport facilities, including transport aircraft;

– automation of missile unit battle management, immediate processing of intelligence data and their dissemination to appropriate command levels;

– long service life and ease of operation.

In terms of performance characteristics, the Iskander-E missile fully complies with the provisions of the missile technology non-proliferation agreement. This is a deterrent weapon for local conflicts and a strategic weapon for countries with limited living space.

A long firing range, permitting the use of the system from the depth of own troops location, and a short time of stay on a launch site make the system virtually invulnerable to conventional destruction weapons.

The research conducted by specialists of leading Russian military research centers has demonstrated that in terms of the effectiveness-cost ratio the Iskander-E missile system outperforms the best foreign counterparts by five to eight times.

The system structure, its control systems, automated battle management and information support make it possible to promptly meet to new requirements without substantial modification of combat assets and, as a result, to guarantee a long lifespan.

Provision is made for the modernization of the Iskander-E system to improve the accuracy of missile strike, reduce missile expenditure to one piece per target and adapt the system to the transportation and electronic facilities of a potential customer.

Continuous (or periodic) maintenance of system components by highly qualified Russian specialists is also possible.

The composition of the missile system makes it possible to ensure the full cycle of its combat employment, including battle management, information support, maintenance, and crew training, without additional expenditures. The composition can be specified in a contract in compliance with customer’s requirements.

In addition, at foreign customer’ request, missiles can be outfitted with various warheads.

In terms of the attained combat potential level, the Iskander-E missile system, which is at the final stage of flight tests, is unrivaled in the world and is a 21st century weapon.

The missile that killed Dudaev was a ss-21 spider (tochka)

I had read some time back , that the Iskander was used to take out a senior Chechenia terrorist , His communication was intercepted , and in minutes the co-orditates was passed on and fed to the Iskander system , and the missile was launched at the known position and with a very high accuracy ( less than 5 meters ) the position was taken off.

I will try to dig in to the article and post it here. If Iskander can slip into the PAC-3 system and other ATBM system , it speaks volume about its capability.

Both can use an optical seeker that can be fed a scanned image of the target minutes before launch. CEP is 10-20 metres.

The Iskander is basically the Russian army replacement for the Scud and has been in use for quite some time. (The Tochka is called SS-21 and is the replacement for the FROG-7 tactical missile.)

Just like the Tochka-R I think using a passive (and field-interchangeable) homing head (the one in the Tochka-R with a CEP of 45m)

The CEP of the Iskander is 10-20m, more than enough for doing the work!

and how would the Iskander exactly target a Patriot battery?